No. 12.—Harry Head.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 571, 3 January 1882, Page 2

No. 12.—Harry Head.

Among the more remarkable men who from time to time have led isolated lives on the Peninsula, a man named Harry Head may be mentioned, who, some fifteen years ago, took up his residence in Waikerakikari. Previous to his arrival this bay had been quite untcnanted, as it was covered by dense bush, and almost inaccessible both from land and sea.

It appears that it was for these very reasons that Head selected it as hie abiding place. He chose a Government section in the valley near the beach, and put up a clay shanty, which he roofed with fern trees. Here he lived all by himself, and friends who visited him on rare occasions used to find him industriously occupied in the bush or his garden, in a very primitive garment, consisting of a sack in which holes had been cut for his head and arms. At certain intervals he used to tire of this Robinson Crusoe kind of existence, and visit the residents of Hie neighboring bays* in very scanty clothing. In bis habits he was almost a wild man, and it is said he had lived long amongst the North American Indians. Instead of riding with an ordinary bridle, he preferred the Indian fashion of a string turned round the horse's lower jaw. This string used to be composed of coloured strands, Indian fashion, lie was credited with the power of long abstinence from food. Hβ has been known several times to start to walk from Akaroa to Christchureh with nothing but a little sugar in his pockets, his only cltihing being come dilapidated trousera and a blanket, which on grand occasions he used to encircle at the waist with a gaudy particolored cord and tassel y. Harry Head was a great lover of music, and used to play simple melodies by ear on the piano, when occasiou offered. Strange to say, however, the instrument he loved most was the drum, which he used to aver was capable of great expression as well as power. Once on a time he had almost resolved to abjure his solitary and wandering existence for domestic felicitj ,, , but the mother and friends of the young lady, on whom h e had placed his affections, strongly objected to him, and he had to return to his solitary whare in Waikerakikari. He appeared to be a man who had read and thought much, and was considered of a genial temperament by those who knew him intimately. He was the first man who took stock into Waikerakikari. He purchased a number of calves and got a gentleman to assist him in driving them there, a difficult task indeed in thoee times when there was no track and a dense bush all the way. A start was affected at six one morning, and his companion had j to go about 2 miles out of the road Iβ; satisfy Head, by seeing a group of Nikan palms. At last after a lot of trouble they arrived at their destination, and it being as at present, most sultry weather, the dwelling bouse was found to be a most suitable one, and fit for the Astronomer Royal, being open to the stars of heavenThe whare in which his visitors slept was composed of weather boards, was about Bft square, and was a regular old curiosity shop, being filled with all sorts of nick nacka and curios, he used to pick up on bis visits to Christchurch and other places.

One of his strangest notions was, that with properly manufactured appliances, human beings should be able to fly. EJe gave much attention to this hobby, and even ventilated the subject in public in the old country after leaving the Peninsula. He once paid a visit to the West Coast and on his return walked back ovor the ranges at the rate of some fifty miles a day. This, however, seemed to entirely cure him ot any desire for future rambles on foot, for it was his last pedestrian feat. He eventually returned to England and astonished his friends there by his remark'

able costume, and strange style, and no doubt they were heartily glad when he announced his intention of proceeding to his old home in America, Hβ is now, to the best of our informant's belief, located in Dacotah, where his primitive habita appear to have enabled him to withstand m the effects of the terrible seasons which. have been fatal to other Europeans. Before leaving he sold his property to the Messrs Masefield, and his old clearing is now the 'rite of the sawmills erected at Waikerakikari by tho energetic Mr John Smith.